Tag Archives: La La Land

If the Academy Awards were trying to conceive of a way to stay interesting, to keep atop the social media conversation, there were worse ways to do it. Believe me, they’ve tried — even elsewhere on last night’s broadcast. Thanks to a stunning last second reversal in the Best Picture category, everyone is talking about the Oscars this morning. There’s a lot to unpack here. (Not least of which: How did Warren Beatty end up with an Oscar in his hand as he retook the mic in the show’s final moments?) And look at that, we’ve largely set aside the award show’s more, uh, problematic elements.

As we approach the very end of 2016, all of the films in serious contention for the Best Picture Oscar have been released, limited or otherwise. While I haven’t seen a few entries in this month’s top ten — owing to disinterest or a lack of access — the narratives for all of their nominations is really starting to take shape. Here we go for the final top 10 of 2016.

In an extremely roundabout way, this is where I’ve come to with director Damien Chazelle and his new film La La Land. It too is filled to burst with passion, expressing as it does a love for things from a bygone era. It’s clear Chazelle cares a great deal about the subject matter and wants very much to tell you about it. Despite his earnest belief in the film, I’m not sure that’s enough of a reason to care.

Owing to this solidification (calcification?) of this year’s Oscar story, we’ve become increasingly locked into our top ten. There are no drop outs this week (though the idea of Sully still puts me to sleep) but there was some jostling on the list. As we enter December, and the final 30 days of the Oscar contention season, this is not nothing. Here are this month’s Picture Perfect Power Rankings. Time to get serious with the status quo.

We’ve reached the second month of the Picture Perfect Power Rankings, with a new list of ten movies, a lot of familiar names, and a couple of new ones. In just 30-ish days, the Oscar fortunes of some films has dramatically changed, and yet, we’re still no closer to a definitive answer.

For the rest of the Oscar season, which includes the rest of 2016, early 2017 and the announcement of the nominations, right up to the air date of the festivities themselves, the Same Page is proud to bring you these monthly power rankings for the award of Best Picture. This is no small matter.